


Orographic Lifts

by TimTheToaster (tabletoptime)



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Time Travel, because people had questions and Desmond is a pushover, but hopefully you enjoy how i phrased things, it's MY turn to play with the Isu Bullshit Button, its not my fault people wanted answers, sort of. at least they're there, this ended up qith a fair chunk of exposition, wing fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28018236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabletoptime/pseuds/TimTheToaster
Summary: Ezio wouldn’t say he had been expecting anything in particular, but if he had been, it certainly wouldn’t have been this.What he found, in the chamber where the glowing phantom of a goddess once spoke past him, was three figures splayed across the strange stone floor.All three were naked, and all three of them had wings.In which some people get answers and other people just have the Weirdest Day.
Comments: 19
Kudos: 178





	Orographic Lifts

Ezio wouldn’t say he had been expecting anything in particular, but if he had been, it certainly wouldn’t have been this.

Returning to the Vatican, to the chapel, hadn’t been so much a conscious decision as something he had very suddenly been sure he had to do. The strength of his surety ought to have been concerning, but it was like there was a warm hook buried in his sternum, tugging him forward with the assurance that this was somehow for the best.

He wasn’t so out of it that he wasn’t careful as he crept past guards in hallowed halls. The irony of his presence in a church never escaped him, but something here resonated in a way Ezio was unused to. It was like the whole building was shining gold and silver at once. Important and safe, despite the enemies staffing it. There wasn’t quite a path to follow, but that hot-water thread held strong and following it was as easy as breathing.

It led to the Vault, because where else could he be going? And of course the floor had once more parted to give him access to the strange glowing chambers beneath.

Going in was no more a choice than his next heartbeat, though some part of Ezio was already braced for another disappointment, another unanswerable mystery.

Instead what he found, in the chamber where the glowing phantom of a goddess once spoke past him, was three figures splayed across the strange stone floor.

All three were naked, and all three of them had wings.

There was no specter to offer even a riddle, and while the heat of the hook had spread to fill his entire chest, Ezio was at a loss. Should he seek clothing for them now, and risk them waking alone, or should he wait until he was certain they would remain here while he searched? In theory, he also ought to ensure they were not dangerous, but despite their obvious divinity and the clear strength in their bodies, Ezio could not banish the sense of safety that had nested beside his heart.

He could not be certain they would feel the same, however. So perhaps it was best to err on the side of caution. At least until they woke.

Which didn’t take as long as he feared it might. After all, how long had they been waiting while Ezio made his way here.

The first to stir was the figure on the far end, who’s colouration was somewhere between the other two’s rather different shades of darker skin. His wings, and he  _ did _ appear to be male in his nakedness, were also the brightest, shining a gold so strong Ezio was half certain he was seeing them with his Sight.

The… being pushed himself first upright, one hand, stained a pitch black up to the elbow, sank into his own feathers and his brow furrowed. The other, with its own black twisting around the forearm, ran down his bare torso and then back up to his cradle his own jaw, one finger swiping across his lip and catching on a rather distinctive scar.

Ezio felt that tug again, trying to pull him closer. He resisted, not wanting to disturb this scene just yet, but it didn’t seem to matter. The angel looked up with eyes as golden as his wings.

Those bright, bright eyes widened when they met Ezio’s, the hand on his face reaching shakily towards him. He spoke in smooth, familiar Italian. Very familiar, in fact. It felt a little like hearing the last whispers of an echo before it felt silent. “Ezio? I-I don’t understand. I’m, am I dead then? Is it over?”

“I’m sorry, my friend, but I suspect we are only beginning.” Ezio wasn’t quite sure what he was apologizing for, but it seemed the right response to that desperate hope to be finished. “Have you and your brothers names?”

“Brothers?” the angel blinked, looking around for the first time. He made a wounded sound when he saw the other two figures, scrambled to his feet and made his way to them, stumbling slightly as if unbalanced. Falling to his knees before them, bone audibly cracking against stone, the angel pressed a hand again to his own mouth, the other hovering over their feathers not quite making contact. “Oh no, no, they’re not supposed to be here. Did I do this? Is this my fault?”

Ezio couldn’t help staring, and again that warmth pulled him towards the display. He sounded guilty and grieving, as if he had done them some great injustice by bringing them here, if that was indeed what had happened. Whatever this was, the angel so clearly needed comfort and though it was far from Ezio’s field of expertise, he was the only one around to try.

Carefully, Ezio stepped up behind the angel. He would have, perhaps, attempted an assuring touch, but was unsure of how to reach around the wings to a shoulder so instead he offered what few words he could think of. “It sounds you did not come here intentionally, I cannot imagine you intended to bring them either. Surely they will understand that.”

The angel laughed wetly and shook his head, feathers whispering against each other as his wings shook with the movement. “Neither of them have ever been known for skills in forgiveness. Of course, neither are you, so there’s always a chance. If they don’t kill me first.”

“Do you believe they will?” Ezio asked, surprised. Something about the idea of any of these beings trying to kill each other seemed abhorrent.

“I… Not really,” the angel admitted, finally knotting his hands together in his lap, as if forcing himself not to touch. “But they’d have the right, if they wanted to. How would you react to waking up unarmed in a strange place with strange people? To being uprooted from your people and your home by some fool’s  _ mistake _ ?”

“I suppose,” Ezio said carefully. “It would depend the fool.”

Before either could speak again, one of the figures began to breath. Ezio hadn’t realized they weren’t doing so before, but now he saw it, there was no way to unsee the unnaturalness of the final figure’s stillness. The breathing one’s wings twitched, the dark brown speckled and shot through with gold, like a hawk half made of precious metal. 

The second angel, this one also seemingly male, shot awake far less gently than the other had awoken. He jerked upwards, wings snapping open in a shower of bright fractals, nearly catching the other angel across the face with them.

His eyes were darker, though they caught and held the light oddly as his head swept from side to side, taking in the chamber, Ezio, and both of the other angels. He spoke strangely, sounds and syllables completely unfamiliar to Ezio but the first angel seemed to understand him well enough, replying in the same tongue.

Ezio took the opportunity to observe the final angel, and also to consider where exactly he was going to acquire them clothing. He could perhaps steal some kind of hose or trouser from some of the guards that were about, but Ezio had no idea where to start with hiding their wings. Some kind of large cloaks or capes could work, if they were amenable to the deception.

Ezio’s attention was drawn back to the conscious pair from his musings as both turned their gazes to him.

“I have an idea about the language thing, to make it easier for us to communicate,” the first angel said quickly. “But it’s probably going to be weird, so you might want to stand back.’

Obligingly, Ezio backed away, ignoring the way it made the heat in his chest flare again, urging him back towards them. 

Slowly, carefully golden wings unfurled as their owner carefully took the other angel’s hand. Their shine went from bright to  _ blinding _ , forcing Ezio to look away, and even then the shape of feathers and edges was burned into his closed eyes.

When the light died down, Ezio looked back, trying to discern if there had been any visible change, but there was nothing his first sight could detect, and some part of him feared what he would see if he used his second Sight. 

If there was something behind this apparent divinity, Ezio was not certain he wanted to face it just yet.

“He said you are an Assassin? And that you are familiar with this place?” The second angel’s voice was deep, and his words were careful. His Italian was even more unsettling than the first’s, like seeing a familiar face through warped, bubbled glass. Just enough was similar to highlight the oddness of the shape of his vowels.

Ezio resolved to ignore it. It seemed only fair. “I am, yes. I have been for some time and have lived in this city for over a decade now. My name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze, but Ezio will suffice.”

Though how the angel had known that, was a different matter entirely.

“My name is Ratonhnhaké:ton, though you may call me Connor. Do you believe you could get us some clothing? I do not think we will be able to move inconspicuously as we are now,” Connor, because Ezio doubted he could pronounce the alternative, rolled his shoulders as he spoke, wings pulling closer and settling around himself slightly, hiding most of his form from view.

“I fully intend to. I have just been waiting for you and your brothers to wake. It seemed imprudent to allow you to awaken alone.” Ezio answered easily. With every moment that passed, the more certain he became that that had been the correct decision.

Both Connor and the other angel’s faces twitched at the word ‘brothers,’ though Connor’s far less noticeably, a barely-there tightening around the eyes. Ezio raised an eyebrow but didn’t push. Now was the time to respect boundaries, more information could be gathered later.

With two of them awake and after whatever they had done, the heat in his chest was heavier, both more tightly bound and yet with more give to it. It now pressed against his ribs and spine rather than pulling him any particular direction. Ezio resisted the urge to rub at his sternum, knowing through his armour there would be little chance of alleviating anything, even if it was a normal sensation, which he doubted.

Connor shook his head, denying. “I have never met this man before, though he certainly seems to know me. And I suspect he knew you without introduction as well?”

The first angel rubs the back of his neck sheepishly as Ezio nods. “It’s complicated, and I’d rather not explain it multiple times, so I figured we could just wait until Al- uh the last guy wakes up.”

Both Ezio and Connor clearly caught the near slip. “You know him as well, then? Who is he?”

“It’s probably best to let him introduce himself. Everyone knowing his name can only make things worse, and he’s more likely to react poorly than Ratonhnhaké:ton,” he said with an awkward shrug that rippled the entire length of his wings. “Though even that really depends on what he remembers at this point. Raonhnhaké:ton, what’s the last thing you remember?”

Now it was Connor’s turn to look awkward, his wings pulling tighter even as his face remained impassive. “I had returned to the homestead after a brief voyage. It had been tiring due to poor weather, but we brought with us enough resources to make it worth it. I joined my wife in bed after a late dinner.”

“And that’s it?” the angel, or perhaps man, who had yet to introduce himself confirmed, shining gaze keen.

“Yes.”

From his tone alone, Ezio doubted it, but what a man did in his own bed with his own wife was certainly none of his business. So long as they had both agreed to the activity, at least.

Ezio was clearly not alone in his assumption, the other winged creature frowning slightly. “That does make sense, though it’s got some kinda worrying implications about a few things.”

“If you cannot introduce your last companion to us,” Ezio cut in before they could wander too far from the point. “Can you at least introduce yourself?”

The being hesitated, and not even the soothing warmth humming in his chest could fully silence Ezio’s suspicion. 

But before Ezio could ask again, the final figure began to stir.

Both of the others winged creatures rose and retreated slightly, barefeet soundless against the stone, though Ezio somehow doubted they’d make much noise even with boots. They moved like Assassins, though admittedly ones carrying heavy burdens on their backs. Ezio didn’t have the time to decide if that was reassuring or not.

The third angel woke quicker than either of the others, going from completely motionless to his feet in the blink of an eye, fists raised and amber eyes flaring a bright enough to rival the gold-on-white of his secondaries. Whatever he saw was apparently reassuring, because he blinked away the light and lowered his hands, though he did not relax entirely. What was slightly more concerning, however, was the sheer resemblance between him and the one who refused to name himself. Although their builds were slightly different, and their skin clearly bore the effects of different amounts of sunlight, their faces were near identical, down to a very familiar and distinct scar. The only true differences were their eyes and wings.

He asked something in what Ezio would hesitatingly call Arabic, though it certainly wasn’t the language the others had used earlier. The nameless one answered, taking on not just the language but also his inflections and pitch. If Ezio closed his eyes, he might have believed it was one man speaking to himself. 

Connor turned to Ezio while the others had what might have been an argument, the new one’s wings arching slightly in agitation, while the other kept cutting off the start of larger gestures and his wings never settled.

“The golden one is trying to convince the other to allow him to share your language with him. Apparently the new one has some negative experience with people that can teach through visions and does not trust him.” His wings were still closed tightly around him, hiding him to his mid-calf.

Ezio hummed. Now that there were two of them, he was able to look past the wings, and he was fairly certain he had seen their face somewhere before. “If nothing else, it is somewhat relieving to know you three can disagree with each other. I must apologize for my earlier mistake in assuming your relationship.”

Connor scoffed. “It was a reasonable assumption, given what you knew. And now you know better.”   
  


Across from them, it seemed the two yet nameless creatures had reached some kind of an accord. They joined hands, one with reluctance and suspicion, and the other with a tender care, and then again the light began to rise until Ezio was forced to once more look away.

When the light died, he looked back, to see the new being begin pacing, eying both the chamber’s occupants and its exit. 

“Now that we may all understand each other, perhaps we can finish those introductions? I am Ezio Auditore, and though I cannot pronounce his true name, this man has given permission to call him Connor.” Ezio gestured first to himself and then to the being beside him, who tilted his head in acknowledgement. 

A nod from the sharper of the pair, though the suspicion in his eyes lingered. “I am Altaïr Ibn La’Ahad. Which leaves only one name to give.”

The nameless angel flinched again, another mark against his trustworthiness, though even with the rising doubt the guiding heat intensified, gaining weight and pressing more firmly against Ezio’s spine. Still, with three sets of sharp eyes upon him, the winged creature did not make yet another attempt to dodge the question.

“My name is Desmond Miles,” he said awkwardly, and Ezio’s blood went still. “And I’m uh. Not really sure the hows or the whys of what’s going on, but I think I understand a few of the whats. Sort of. Would you rather I start with what I consider the basics, or do you just want to ask questions?”

Ezio’s mind spun. He had so many questions, he could barely think where to start. 

Luckily he didn’t have to.

Altaïr, or the winged shade claiming the Master’s name, began to pace. “What exactly would you consider ‘basic’?”

“Approximate date, location, a couple of things we all have in common,” Desmond shrugged. “We could even get into what this place is, if you wanted.”

“Tell us,” Connor commanded sharply, gaze straying from where he had started tracking Altaïr’s movement.

Desmond ran a hand through his hair, catching his elbow on the top of a wing with a slight curse. “Right so. We are currently in Rome, Italy. More specifically, we’re in the Isu Vault under the Vatican. I can’t say the specific date, but at a guess it’s the year 1508, based on Ezio’s boots since I’m pretty sure he replaced them for the first time in years in 1509 and those don’t look new. Or sometime around there, at least. We’re all Assassins, though what that means to us likely varies given that Altair is from the 12th century, Connor from the 18th, and I’m from the 21st. Ezio is local, semi-recently got done eliminating the last of the major Templars in the area and liberating the city. Connor rebuilt his local branch nearly from scratch after a traitor decimated them, and of course the changes Altaïr made to the Brotherhood are the root of its longevity and purpose.”

“And you?” Ezio asked. “You wax near poetic over our accomplishments, and yet you are here. What role did you play in your own time?”

Desmond smiled thinly, wings twitching as if to close around him as his arms crossed. “I was nothing special. Just an idiot with the right bloodline, who’s only job was to follow orders until I could die at the right time and place.”

That… Didn’t sound right. It didn’t make sense that a man who saw himself only as fodder would end up  _ here _ , let alone be the subject of an ancient prophecy. 

And Ezio didn’t like the suggestion that the Brotherhood would ever treat its own members as a resource to be expended.

Altaïr stopped, eyes narrowed. “What makes your bloodline the right one?”

“Depends who you ask,” Desmond said carefully, clearly trying to gauge the response to his words. “There’s a way to use the specific things in a person’s blood that makes them who they are as a key. Just so we’re clear, it’s not  _ actually _ the blood that’s important, but it’s an easy way to talk about it given what you guys know about the human body. The people who built this place, and the Apples, knew how to read blood and copy what it said. So to them, I had the right bloodline to open a lot of doors they left behind, because they were able to… predict I would exist the way I did, so they could use that prediction to make the locks.”

That answer spurred so many questions, a dizzying trail of allusions and metaphor, and Ezio wanted to hear all of them drawn out to their fullest. “Why did they need to leave you these doors at all?”

That got him another smile, those this one held traces of an actual amusement. “You heard Minerva, Ezio. Their civilization was destroyed by the sun, and they knew without intervention ours would go the same way. But devices that can combat the sun are powerful, and couldn’t be left accessible to just anyone. So they picked some schmuck who would be alive at the right time, and left messages to make sure I’d do what I had to to activate the device that was keyed to my blood. And then it killed me so no one could ever use it again.”

“This device,” Connor said, a ripple of some kind going through his wings as he presumably moved beneath them. “What was it?  _ Where _ was it?”

Desmond’s expression flickered, something that looked like pride and resignation warring briefly before both fell away. “It was a Temple, the Grand Temple of the Isu, buried in the earth until it came time for its purpose. It… Changed the air between us and the sun, briefly, so that the heat couldn’t pass through. Incidentally, the Temple was hidden in the cave your people guarded, locked with a door only someone with Ezio’s Apple and my blood could open.”

Before he could go on, or before Ezio could ask what he meant by  _ his _ Apple, Altaïr cut in. “You implied that is only one perspective. Who else would consider your blood valuable, and why?

If Desmond had been uncomfortable before, it was nothing compared to the way his face drained of colour and his hands gripped his elbows tightly. “In my time, we had started to develop devices that could read blood as well. Only it focused more on the history in blood than on the individual.” Desmond broke eye contact, clearly considering how to phrase his explanation. “You know how families share traits? How a parent can pass on their eyes or hair? That’s because of the shared information in their blood. And as it turns out, you can pass on other information like that as well. Whole lifetimes of memories, from parent to child, preserved by an unbroken bloodline. Both Assassins and Templars agreed that was a great way to learn history.”

The implication was clear, made all the clearer by Desmond’s blatant resemblance to each of them, from his skin, to his build, to his very face. 

At that, Connor stalked forward, wings unfurling to loose his hand so he could take Desmond by the chin, turning him this way and that. Desmond did not resist, though his hands flexed, and he looked the very picture of uncomfortable. After a moment he released him, stepping back, a little bit of the tension leaking from his posture. “You have my mother’s brow.”

“I… Guess I do, yeah,” Desmond replied shakily. 

“That would make us all family, then?” Ezio asked, sizing them up. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself to think of his family as something that could grow.

“Only as much as you want us to be. I know I’m related to you and Connor on my dad’s side, and Altaïr on my mom’s, and even then I’m pretty sure you’re both from different branches. And with centuries between us all,” Desmond shrugged again, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. “I consider you important to me for dumb personal reasons, but that shouldn’t impact what any of you choose to do here.”

He glanced between them briefly, and clearly read that they all had yet more questions, and set his jaw as his wings tucked themselves around him. “Look, as fun as getting interrogated while buckass naked has been, is there any chance we can at least get some pants?”

Ezio was about to agree, if only to gain some time to digest all the things Desmond had just told them, but again Altaïr spoke first. “One more. Why do you consider us kin if you admit it is foolish?”

“Always for the throat, huh Altaïr,” Desmond exhaled, long and slow. “The, the reading  _ process _ I guess you’d call it, isn’t simple. For the person whose blood it is, it’s actually pretty personal. And it can be uh, unpleasant. So you guys have no idea who I am, but on my end it feels like I got to know you during some of the worst months of my life.”

“And is that what you think-” Altaïr began, only for Ezio to cut him off.

“I believe Desmond agreed to answer one more question, and he has. I’ll see what I can about acquiring clothing and perhaps cloaks or blankets, and we can resume this discussion in a more appropriate setting,” he said with finality. Pushing now would only make the creature (Ezio still wasn’t certain he should call him a man, though that was what they seemed to believe themselves to be) lock up, and make getting further answers more difficult. 

Altaïr’s lip curled, but it seemed he too would like to remedy their nakedness, so he acquiesced. 

As Ezio turned to the entrance, recalling patrol routes he could head off, the heat he had almost started to ignore flared, hot and sharp and pressing against his back in a wave of pain. The onset was so sudden, Ezio couldn’t stop his stumble, though he clamped down on the cry of pain that clawed at the inside of his throat.

The flesh of his back  _ burned _ and ached, the dark stone and blue lights swimming before him. Ezio tried to steady himself, planting his feet, and had nearly recovered himself, when the pain spiked again, and this time he couldn’t help falling to his knees, catching himself before he could fall face first into the floor.

His vision blurred, and Ezio faintly registered voices echoing in shouts, but he could not bring himself to decipher them, and it was only the whispers of assurance, that he was among allies and safe, still nestled in the fiery pain filling him that allowed him to release his stranglehold on consciousness. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is... I have no excuses for this. I was supposed to be writing a final essay. I. Wrote this instead. I blame the discord I joined which is full of shameless enablers. This is purely self indulgent nonsense, riffing on half a dozen other fics because we're all using the same damn tropes at this point and I wanted to play in the sandbox too. Not even gonna pretend this isn't a fair chunk due to PurpleMoon3's Lord of Little Things. That would just be blatantly lying to you. 
> 
> Wings! Time travel! What am I even doing? Having fun is the answer I would like to give, but in reality I'm just. Experiencing things at various times and places. Words happen sometimes and I have 0 control over what words those are. There may one day be more to come in this verse, but I'm marking this finished for now if only so I can pretend and work on other projects. There will also probably be some editing later because thats just how my life and posting works.
> 
> Oh, and since this is a different fandom, I also do work on a nerdy podcast! If you want to hear me having loud opinions on a slightly shitty mic, and the occasional lecture on stuff, feel free to check it out! Our latest episode was us roasting bad uses of properties including Teen Titans Go!, Loonatics Unleashed, the Dragon Ball movie and the ATLA Movie so if that sounds up your alley its over here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R97Msn84EXs&t=1s
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day <3


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